Curious. MY OEM tires are 205/50/17 with load index of 88 and V speed rating. Seeing as how car won't do more than 118mph is it necessary to go with V speed rating on replacement tires. V is 149mph. T is 118, U-124, H-130. When on highway (not that often) drive around 64 mph max unless passing for a few seconds. As long as tire has an 88+ load index would it be ok to put T, U, or H speed rated tires on. Sorry for asking so many tire related questions lately. Appreciate any replies.
Thanks for replying myork. More curious than anything although I have found a highly rated tire at a good price which is t rated (probably too low). On another forum I'm getting opinions that with the 3 it wouldn't do any harm to go with H or U ratings with a load index of 88 or maybe even a notch lower or higher. Why would Mazda put a V rated tire on the 3, it won't do more than 118mph, if that, with the speed limiter on it. Thanks for taking the time.
If you aren't going anywhere near the speed then yeah obviously no worries.
I think they just put higher rated tires on so that they don't have any lawsuits of people trying to achieve the cars max speed and getting killed in the process.
Thanks for taking the time cabOoze.
Kind of what I thought. Only have Secondary highways around here with speed limit 55mph. Fines are pretty stiff so we don't drive any more than 62-65 mph and don't usually drive more than 120 miles (2 hours) without a break (we ARE old). Around town-drive to get good gas mileage. No jackrabbit starts or drags, etc. Yea, don't exactly abuse our cars or tires.
Thanks for replying. Appreciate it.
Thanks XCNuse...you are right. For the 205/50/17 size I looked at 54 summer touring/all season's listed on tire rack and only 6 are H rated. None lower than that. Safety is more of an issue as I get older but at 62mph I'm doubting there would be much difference between an H and V rated tire that I would notice. Thanks for your thoughts. Appreciated.
What load index/speed rating tire to get for the 3 is no longer an issue. I traded er in yesterday (Fri) on a Kia Sportage LX AWD due to Mazda rusting issues.
Still have to get summers for our Acura and your comments have been helpful. Thank you all for your feedback...much appreciated.
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